Height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags

ABSTRACT

A height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags includes at least two airbags, where the airbags each receive and retain therein an elastic body. One of the airbags includes an air control unit connected thereto for controlling air filling and discharge of the airbags. The airbags are provided, in surfaces thereof that opposes each other, with corresponding passage holes and joint sections formed around circumferences of the passage holes. The joint sections are jointed so that the airbags are directly connected with no additional medium between the airbags and allowing the airbags to share the same air control unit to achieve flowability of air between the airbags, whereby advantages of efficient air filling and discharge of the airbags, being easy to manufacture, and reducing manufacture costs can be achieved.

This is a division of the co-pending patent application Ser. No. 14/382,761, filed Nov. 25, 2014.

(a) TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an height adjusting structure, and more particularly to a height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags that comprises airbags arranged to allow air contained therein to flow therebetween so as to achieve advantages of fast filling and discharge of air, easy manufacture, and reduction of manufacture costs.

(b) DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Modern people are generally physically inactive and do have take sufficient exercise in various situations, such as working in offices, using computers, playing video gains, watching television, and other occasions, when people often forget to stand up and take some exercise to stretch and move their bodies so that they have stayed in a constant posture, such as sitting, lying, or resting, for a long period of time. Although people realize they need to stand up and moves their bodies after having been sit, lain, or rested for a long period of time to prompt blood circulation and consume calorie, due to often being so devoted themselves to work and games or simply because of bad personal habits, most of the people do not stand up and move constantly. As a consequence, an increase of body weight and relaxation and crash-down of hips may result. Further, sitting, lying, and resting for a long period of time may often result in improper and incorrect posture, which cause modern diseases, such as backaches.

Products, such as pillows and mates, or patented techniques, which provide functions of supporting and shaping, are available for people to rest thereon with specific portions. Some of these products provide a function of adjustment of height and softness. However, those products of pillows or mats or patented techniques are generally very complicated in structure and do not allow for simultaneous adjustment of height, softness, and shapability, making them imperfect in respect of human engineering. Thus, the present inventor has provided various products of height adjustable devices and mats including the height adjustable devices that overcome the drawbacks of the conventional products of pillows and mats and the know patented techniques and has also manufactured and commercialized products of mats of these kinds.

The height adjustable devices and products thereof that have been provided by the present inventor are structured by comprising multiple airbags that receive and contain therein internally arranged elastic bodies, wherein height adjustment can be achieved by air filled into and/or discharged from the airbags to allow, in a condition where a user rests thereon, a surface thereof to completely comply with the portion of the user in contact therewith for various postures that the user may take. However, the following drawbacks exist and the structure and functionality thereof are not perfect:

(1) Airbags, which are used in multiplicity, are each controlled by an external air control unit for air filling and discharge, so that when the number of the airbags used is increased, the number of the air control units used is also increased. Since airtightness is a vital factor of the airbags, the manufacture will be difficult and the manufacture cost is high.

(2) The airbags are connected with hoses extending therebetween as a communication medium for air flowability therebetween. This makes the manufacture difficult and also increases the manufacture cost.

(3) Since the airbags require the additionally included hoses as a communication medium for connection and air flowabilith therebetween, the flow paths of air flows are extended and the efficiency of air filling and discharge of the airbags is lowered, leading to inconvenience of an operation for height adjustment.

Based on the concept of constant improvement and innovation of products and for the purposes of making mats more widely applicable, allowing for easy use by users, the present invention aims to provide a height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags, of which details will be given below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags that allows for efficient filling and discharge of air.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags that achieves the advantages of easy manufacture and reduction of manufacture costs.

To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a solution as follows:

A height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags comprises at least two airbags. The airbags each have an interior in which an elastic body is received, wherein one of airbags comprises an air control unit mounted thereto for controlling air filling and discharge of the airbags. The airbags comprise passage holes respectively formed in surfaces thereof that oppose each other and joint sections respectively formed around circumferences of the passage holes. The joint sections are jointed to each other so that the airbags are directly connected to each other.

The elastic body comprises a foamed material.

The elastic body comprises foamed sponge.

The height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags is received and retained in a mat.

The height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags is received and retained in a neck cushion.

The height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags is received and retained in a pillow.

The height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags is received and retained in an envelope.

The height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags is received and retained in a rest cushion.

With the above arrangement, the height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags is such that by means of direct connection between airbags, air contained in the airbags is allowed to flow therebetween directly so that the airbags can be efficiently filled with air or allowing for efficient discharge of air therefrom, helping improve the convenience and ease of conducting a height adjustment operation. Further, with the airbags being directly connected to each other, the present invention requires no additional medium (such as air hose) to realize the connection and the airbags need only one air control unit shared therebetween to achieve air filling and discharge, so that advantages of being easy to manufacture and reducing manufacture costs can be achieved.

The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention in a height-reduced condition.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention in a height-raised condition.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of the present invention in a height-reduced condition.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of the present invention in a height-raised condition.

FIGS. 7-10 are schematic views illustrating different arrangements of airbags that are received in mats according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an exploded view of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention arranged in a mat.

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of FIG. 11.

FIGS. 13 and 14 are schematic view illustrating a use of the mat of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an exploded view of a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention arranged in a neck cushion.

FIG. 16 is a top plan view of the neck cushion of FIG. 15.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view illustrating a use of the neck cushion of FIG. 15.

FIG. 18 is a schematic view illustrating a user of the neck cushion of FIG. 15 as a prone-lying pillow.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of a fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention arranged in a pillow.

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a use of the pillow of FIG. 19.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of a sixth preferred embodiment of the present invention arranged in an envelope.

FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a user of the envelope of FIG. 21.

FIG. 23 is perspective view of a seventh preferred embodiment of the present invention arranged in a rest cushion.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view illustrating a user of the rest cushion of FIG. 23.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention provides a height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags 1, of which a preferred embodiment comprises a plurality of airbags 10, 20 and an air control unit 30 that controls air filling and discharge of the airbags 10, 20 in order to allow the airbags 10, 20 to conduct adjustments in respect of height, softness, and shapability. A detailed description will be given below:

The airbags 10, 20 are structured to be of suitable deformability and each receives and retains therein an elastic body 11, 21. The elastic bodies 11, 21 can be made of any elastic materials, such as foamed materials, including foam sponges, foamed plastics, and foamed rubbers, and a foam sponge is taken as an example in the instant embodiment. The airbag 20 is stacked on the air pocket 10 and the airbags 10, 20 are made in communication with each other.

The air control unit 30 is mounted to the airbag 10 and comprises a hose and a valve. The valve may be opened when compressed and may be closed when the compression is removed so that a user may use the air control unit 30 to control the supply of external air into the airbags 10, 20 for inflation thereof (see FIG. 3) or to release the air when the airbags 10, 20 are compressed (see FIG. 2). Further, the elastic bodies 11, 21 help expansion and/or contraction so as to help adjust the height, softness, and shapability of the airbags 10, 20. After the adjustment of the height, softness, and shapability of the airbags 10, 20, the interiors thereof may be kept in a predetermined pressure condition.

An essence of the present invention is that the airbags 10, 20 are respectively provided, in surfaces thereof that oppose each other (where overlapping and bonding are applied), with corresponding passage holes 12, 22 and joint sections 13, 23 around circumferences of the passage holes 12, 22 and the joint section 13, 23 are jointed, where the operation applied for the jointing may be thermal fusion and pressing joint or adhesive bonding, so that the airbags 10, 20 are directly connected together with air contained in the airbags 10, 20 to directly flow therebetween.

Referring to FIG. 2, to use the present invention, with the air control unit 30 being compressed and opened, when the airbags 10, 20 and the elastic bodies 11, 21 are compressed by an external force (such as being pressed down by a hand or a head of a user) to contract, a portion of the air contained in the airbag 20 and the elastic body 21 flows through the passage holes 22, 12 into the airbag 10 and then flow through the airbag 10 and discharge through air control unit 30. If, under this condition, the air control unit 30 is closed, not to allow air to enter, then the interiors of the airbags 10, 20 are kept in a predetermined condition of pressure, where a negative pressure persists to induce suction that makes the airbags 10, 20 attached to surfaces of the elastic bodies 11, 21, so that the overall height of the airbags 10, 20 is in a reduced condition.

Referring to FIG. 3, to use the present invention, with the air control unit 30 being compressed and opened, external air is allowed to flow through the air control unit 30 into the airbags 10, 20 and due to the penetration of air, the elastic body 11, 21 may get self-expanded to thereby expand the airbags 10, 20, whereby the overall height of the airbags 10, 20 is in a raised condition.

It is noted here that, as observed from FIGS. 2 and 3, by means of direct connection between the airbags 10, 20, the present invention allows for direct communication of air contained in the airbags 10, 20 for flowing therebetween so that the airbags 10, 20 can be efficiently filled with air or allowing for efficient discharge of air therefrom, helping improve the convenience and ease of conducting a height adjustment operation. Further, with the airbags 10, 20 being directly connected to each other, the present invention requires no additional medium (such as air hose) to realize the connection and the airbags 10, 20 need only one air control unit 30 shared therebetween to achieve air filling and discharge, so that advantages of being easy to manufacture and reducing manufacture costs can be achieved.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5, and 6, a second embodiment of the present invention is shown, where, if desired, an additional air pocket 40 that receive and container therein an elastic body 41 can be further stacked on the airbag 20. The airbags 20, 40 are respectively provided in surfaces thereof that oppose each other, with corresponding passage holes 24, 42 and joint sections 25, 43 around circumferences of the passage holes 24, 42 and the joint section 13, 23 are jointed so that the airbags 40, 20 are directly connected together with air contained in the airbags 40, 20, 10 to directly flow therebetween through direct communication.

It is noted here that the second embodiment illustrates one additional air pocket stacked on the airbag 20 as an illustrative example; however, it is apparent that, if desired, there may be more than one additional airbags stacked on the airbag 20, or additionally or alternatively, more than one additional air pocket (not shown) is arranged to be stacked under the airbag 10, both arrangements allowing air to directly flow among the plurality of airbags.

Referring to FIGS. 7-10, the height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags 1 according to the present invention may be arranged in a mat 50, so that, besides receiving a specific portion of the body of a user to rest thereon, the mat 50 also allows for adjustments of height, softness, and shapability thereof. The airbags illustrated in each of these drawings can be made in various sizes and shapes according to needs, or the airbags can be added in a flexible manner and arranged in any desired fashion and combination.

Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, a third preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of air pocket height adjusting structures 1 a, 1 b, 1 c. The air pocket height adjusting structures 1 a, 1 b, 1 c can be arranged in a mat 60. The mat 60 comprises a top section 61 that receives a user to sit thereon and provides desired aesthetic decoration and a bottom section 62 arranged at a lower side.

The air pocket height adjusting structures 1 a, 1 b, 1 c illustrated in the drawings are arranged in a U-shape to conform to the configuration of the mat 60, wherein the air pocket height adjusting structure 1 c comprises airbags 10 c, 20 c that are stacked vertically and are in communication with each other and the airbags 10 c is connected by a connection hose 30 c to an air control unit 30 b of the air pocket height adjusting structure 1 b so that the air pocket height adjusting structure 1 c requires no air control unit and is controlled by the air control unit 30 b for air filling and discharge.

Referring to FIGS. 13 and 14, the mat 60 can be used to receive a user sit thereon so as to support and shape the hips of the user to maintain a good siting posture of the user. The mat 60, which comprises the air pocket height adjusting structures 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, also allows for adjustments of height, softness, and shapability.

Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention also comprises a plurality of air pocket height adjusting structures 1 a, 1 b, 1 c that is arranged to form a U-shape and is received and retained in a U-shaped neck cushion 70, wherein the air pocket height adjusting structure 1 a may comprise an additional airbag 40 a stacked on the stacked airbags 10 a, 20 a to meet the requirement for a desired configuration of the neck cushion 70.

Referring to FIG. 17, the neck cushion 70 can be fit over the neck of a user to provide support and protection to the head when the user is sleeping. The neck cushion 70, which comprises the air pocket height adjusting structures 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, allows for adjustments of height, softness, and shapability.

Referring to FIG. 18, the neck cushion 70 is also positionable on a desktop to allow the head of a user to place thereon for lying prone so as to serve as a prone-lying pillow. The neck cushion 70 may thus space the head of the user from the hands so that the head does not compress the hands during the prone lying. The neck cushion 70, which comprises the air pocket height adjusting structures 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, allows for adjustments of height, softness, and shapability.

Referring to FIGS. 19 and 20, a fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags 1, which is usable in such a way that two such structures are received and embedded in a pillow 80 to support, in a compliant manner, the head, the neck, and the shoulders of the user when the user is sleeping. The pillow 80, which comprises the height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags 1, allows for adjustments of height, softness, and shapability.

Referring to FIGS. 21 and 22, a sixth preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags 1, which is usable in such a way that two such structures are received and embedded in an envelope 91 and the envelope 91 comprises a strap 92 for attaching to a regular pillow 90 so as to support, in a compliant manner, the head, the neck, and the shoulders of the user when the user is sleeping. The envelope 91, which comprises the height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags 1, allows for adjustments of height, softness, and shapability.

Referring to FIGS. 23 and 24, a seventh preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags 1, which is usable in such a way that two such structures are received and embedded in a rest cushion 93 to provide support to the back of a user when the user takes a sitting posture so as to keep a good sitting posture for the user. The rest cushion 93, which comprises the height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags 1, allows for adjustments of height, softness, and shapability.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. 

I claim:
 1. A height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags, characterized by comprising at least two airbags, the airbags each having an interior in which an elastic body is received, wherein one of airbags comprises an air control unit mounted thereto for controlling air filling and discharge of the airbags, the airbags comprising passage holes respectively formed in surfaces of the airbags that oppose each other and joint sections respectively formed around circumferences of the passage holes, the joint sections being jointed to each other, the airbags being directly connected to each other, the height adjusting structure with directly communicating airbags being received and retained in a pillow. 